Thursday, September 24, 2015

The Little Octopus... and he was yellow.

Spoonflower does these great contest every week. We design a fabric based on the theme they give and then that fabric becomes an entry. If it's in the top 10 it goes live for sale in the shop without ordering a sample (before an item is listed, the artist has to order a swatch of it, to make sure it's what they were aiming for. Much like real fabric production).

The contest this week is:

Cephalopods

In honor of Cephalopod Awareness Days (Oct. 8th- 12th) we decided it was about time again to pay homage to our favorite inky sea creatures. Although, it's a fact that not all species of cephalopods produce ink. With more than 800 species of cephalopods, that's a lot of inspiration to draw from! Show us your best Cephalopod themed design! Previews will be sized as a fat quarter (21" x 18") Deadline for entry is Tuesday, September 29th, 2015. Voting will open Thursday, October 1st, 2015.

Which usually people think of Squid and such, but I wanted to do an octopus, and because I'm on a pillow doll kick I made him into a cut & sew pillow doll.

As you can see, my ideas start as really crude sketches. You get the idea, and can see how that went into my design. I sketch on paper, take a photo with my phone, send it to myself, and then create in Illustrator click by click. Someday I will get myself a drawing tablet, but for now... and for years, I've done it this way.

He will be published in October if he doesn't rank in the contest, in both fat quarter size and a giant yard sized doll, and also a pattern print (links to follow once it's live).